... Some are more equal than others.
Apologies to George Orwell, whose original observation in "Animal Farm" referred to the equality of animals, not restaurant customers. However, the reality is that many establishments just won't succeed unless they give due attention to retaining their very best customers.
Studies like this one have shown that a restaurant's best customers can be as much as nine times more valuable than average customers. This implies dire consequences for undifferentiated marketing and customer care, and makes a compelling case for customer segmentation.
But how can a small restaurant get the data it needs to identify and target its most valuable customers?
One solution is social WiFi. When customers first sign up to use your wireless network, the WiFi receiver records their device's unique identifier. Every time they return to your store it records the date, time, and duration of their visit. Social WiFi systems that can tie this frequency information to point-of-sale data can easily show you which of your customers are the most valuable.